Lemon Curll had a hard time wrapping his head around the Mistralian woman hired to protect the caravan with him.

Immigrants from other Kingdoms weren't rare in Vacuo, but they were mostly criminals, fleeing their home city to avoid authorities. Naturally, Vacuans were quite distrusting of strangers due to this, and would only respect them if they proved themselves.

The issue here, was that they knew nothing of the woman. Not even her name. Sure, she seemed mute, but somehow the only thing she had bothered sharing with them was her fighting style, which was heavily based on Dust.

Dust wasn't that expensive, but basing your entire fighting style around it meant you had more than a little money to spare. There was no way a small time criminal was capable of sustaining such a lavish fighting style.

Lemon hadn't needed the caravan's second to warn him before being wary of her, but knowing that the head of the caravan had practically forced everyone to accept the woman in had put him on edge. There was something wrong going on, he could feel it.

Lemon had spent time watching the woman, trying to figure out her exact fighting style, her strengths and her weaknesses. He had to admit that she was an expert at using Dust, getting rid of any small grimm that dared to venture too close to the caravan without even moving down from the camel she was sitting on. At least that meant he didn't have to fight while being exhausted from walking all the time.

However, whenever they stopped and stronger grimm managed to attack them, he was doing all the heavy lifting. She wasn't useless, and sometimes he was sure he wouldn't have been able to kill the grimm on his own, but she wasn't doing much either. It seemed that small fry was her limit.

Perfect. Now, all he had to do was protect the drugs once they got them. Just to make sure she wasn't there to steal them, or worse, burn them.

And at the first sandstorm.

He would get rid of her.

Glynda was being overwhelmed by work. Ozpin wasn't doing any of the paperwork needed to keep the school running, but she couldn't blame him.

Recently, Qrow had came back with Amber. The maiden was gravely wounded, and they had only managed to stabilize her thanks to an Atlesian invention Ironwood had brought over as soon as he heard of the situation.

Ozpin had been... shaken by the state Amber was in. Not so much that she was hurt – he had seen a lot more maidens die before – but the fact that part of her powers were stolen. If Salem had found a way to ensure the powers would be given to someone of her choice, then she could end up gathering all the magic on Remnant by her side.

The headmaster hid his fears from the people around him, of course, but Glynda had been by his side long enough to know when something was bothering him. Small mannerisms, an increase in hot cocoa intake, times when he would seem unfocused on what he was doing.

To help him, she had taken to dealing with his work for him. More than what he had initially unloaded on her for having tried to go after Torchwick again.

Speaking of Torchwick, the woman Glynda had seen with him was another issue altogether.

She was proficient with Dust, that much was sure, so at first they had thought Neo had came back to Vale to help Roman.

However, now, they had another suspect. The woman could have just as well been the half-maiden they were looking for, the one that had stolen Amber's powers.

Ozpin had decided to send Hunters to take care of Torchwick and anyone working for him. He had met a bit of resistance from the police force, but in the end they had caved in. There wouldn't be many Hunters willing to take on the mission, but it was the best he could do.

Qrow, on the other hand, was sent out. He would follow the woman's trail to it's source, and check if it was just someone with a unique semblance and some unusual knowledge, or if it was someone working for Salem.

There was little doubt on that part, however it was best to have no doubt at all. On the off chance that the woman wasn't working with Salem, then it might be best to simply watch her until she was old enough that they could safely force the powers into someone of their choice.

Better to have a criminal maiden they could monitor than be unaware of where the power was. All that mattered was that the powers stayed away from Salem.

For while, to most people, the power itself was the attracting part, to the people protecting Remnant, that was only secondary.

They were keys.

And what the keys led to was the important part to protect.

Neo was barely stopping herself from grinning.

They had already traveled for quite a while now. They had stopped at a couple small oasis where they met some other trading caravans, and to a few settlements where the caravan sold textiles and medicine in exchange for resources to sell back in Vacuo.

In one particular mining settlement, which principally exported aluminum, Neo had managed to get a small pouch of aluminum powder. The stuff could be used for many things, but the one Neo was most interested in was fireworks. Sure, firing them was interesting, but Neo really wanted to try making some herself.

But that wasn't what made Neo the happiest right now. No, that had happened after the next settlement they stopped at.

Lemon had started to protect one set of goods in particular.

Sure he was trying to be subtle about it, but for Neo, who had grown up stealing with Roman and recently been taught extensively on the subject by Rumpole, it was extremely obvious.

Now, all Neo had to do was find a moment to ensure the bags he was so keen on protecting were indeed drugs, and she would be set to kill him.

All of this she could do in one go.

Whenever a sandstorm hits.

The shifting sands of Vacuo were unpredictable to even the most veteran of travelers. A sandstorm could hit anywhere, anytime, with little to no warning.

Nobody knew what caused them. All they knew was when it happened, they had to stick close together. Grimm always infested the storms, and only as a group could they stand a chance of surviving until the desert calmed down.

Surviving the shifting sands for the first time was what made someone into a true Vacuan. Unless you were gravely sick, wounded, or pregnant, you were expected to fight. Even elders and children were given some makeshift ranged weapon so they could hit the grimm from within the defensive circle.

The advantage, however, was that they didn't actually need to kill the grimm. All they had to do was push them back. Once the sandstorm quelled, the grimm would disappear along with it.

Nobody knew why, but they were certainly not going to complain.

Lemon smiled. Finally, a sandstorm had decided to show itself. This was the best time for what he planned for, but also for the woman to go for the drugs.

He concentrated on his semblance. He could faintly feel everyone in the caravan dismount and gather their camels in a circle. He focused on the space around the drugs, making sure nobody was getting close to it while he put on his goggles and searched for the Mistralian woman.

Neo made an hard-light construct in front of her face to protect it from the sand. Most people would simply use some clothes to protect their face from the sand, however it could make it hard to see. Goggles were safer for the eyes, but Neo didn't like how they looked so she opted for Dust instead.

She jumped down her camel and, before hitting the ground, used wind Dust to float.

She was planning on checking on the goods right now, and she knew Lemon would be able to sense her if she simply walked there. By using wind Dust, she could avoid triggering his semblance and get there faster by flying. Even if that costed a lot of Dust to maintain.

A quick check inside the bag told Neo that was indeed what she was looking for. It definitely helped that she already knew what kind of drug they were smuggling. Now it was time to deal with that failed Huntsman.

Neo let herself fall back to the ground relatively far from where the drugs were, to avoid drawing too much suspicion.

Lemon, on the other hand, shivered.

He had felt one tremor, far bigger than everything he had felt before.

A grimm was coming.

And he wasn't sure if they could deal with this one.

Neo could barely see through the sandstorm. She couldn't even tell where the caravan had decided to group up.

Then she heard two loud whistle blows back to back.

They had been very clear to her at the start of their journey. One blow meant they were asking for help.

Two meant they were drawing away the grimm.

Neo ran in the direction of the sound. She knew that if Lemon had blown his whistle twice, it must have been because a very dangerous grimm had appeared. If she didn't run to help, then he might die.

But it was only a might. This was the best occasion for her to kill him, and she didn't want to risk leaving him alone here and having him come back once the storm had ended.

So here she was, running in the direction of what was probably the biggest danger here, all so she could ensure this would be Lemon's last sandstorm.

And when she got to where he was, she found the largest grimm she had ever seen. A gigantic worm crawling through the sand and occasionally jumping out to try and gobble Lemon up.

Name : The great worm

Level : 23 (11%)

HP : 398/398

STR : 18

CON : 28

DEX : 25

INT : 4

WIS : 19

CHA : 10

Semblance : Grimm [a grimm's entire purpose is to destroy the very existence of living beings. Their soul. Gains 2d12 damage against aura]

Status effects :

Elite [This grimm is so strong it has twice as much HP, and deals twice as much damage as usual]

Defenses :

AC : 28

For : 30

Ref : 28

Will : 25

Well. That didn't bode well.

Lemon stifled a grin as he felt the Mistralian woman arrive behind him. This was perfect.

Now he could use the grimm against her. With some luck, he'd manage to both kill her and survive until the sandstorm ended.

Neo jumped out of the way when she saw Lemon attack her. It was a bit surprising, given their current predicament, but not completely unexpected. Given how protective he had been of the drugs, she had already guessed he was wary of her.

She groaned. The grimm was too strong for her to afford losing track of it, so she couldn't focus on fighting Lemon right now. Plus, the failed Huntsman's semblance gave him the advantage in this sandstorm, although not as much as the grimm that was clearly used to hunting within it.

Lemon swung his word far from her, but Neo guessed what he was going for. She used earth Dust to rise up a wall at her side, and sure enough, the extended sword struck it. Yet, the wall wasn't large enough, and the tip of Lemon's blade managed to go around it and hit Neo's back, which Hush was protecting.

The hit was safely blocked, however it dispelled Neo's illusion. Not that she cared much at this point. Only the two of them were here, and one was going to die today, so the secrets hardly mattered.

Lemon was surprised, however, when he saw the illusion break. Instead of a woman stood a small teenager, hardly 1m48 tall with her heels on.

Heels in sand. Lemon almost wanted to laugh at that. It would cost a lot of energy for her to be stable in those things.

Neo wasn't worried about her heels in this fight though. She had always fought light on her feet, so it wasn't like she was going to count on anything but the tip of her toes to touch the ground during their fight.

Neo dashed in, much to Lemon's confusion, and the grimm followed after her, trying to eat them both in one fell swoop. Lemon rolled out of the grimm's way, and Neo threw in a bead of steam Dust to create a fog around him as she dodged as well.

Lemon had no idea what Neo was planning. The fog created by the steam Dust was quickly getting lifted by the sandstorm, and he still had his semblance to keep track of both her and the grimm.

There she was, running towards him, so Lemon swung his sword forward.

Instead of hitting the parasol however, Lemon felt some powder hit his face. Had she tried to blind him with sand while he had his goggles on ?

The fog finished lifting, and Lemon saw the teenager throw an empty pouch, that he recognized as one that would usually hold aluminum powder, before jumping inside the grimm's maw. He would have thought he was hallucinating if he hadn't felt the heat of the large spray of flames that left the grimm's mouth before it closed.

Wait. Aluminum, water and heat. That would mean...

Oh sh...

From where the caravan was gathered, they could see a large spray of flames in the distance, which was followed by several explosions.

They stayed put, wary of any grimm that might come now that the two people protecting them were most likely dead. However, the sandstorm soon lifted.

In the distance, where the explosion had been, they could see that one last thing was still standing.

A cocoon made of ice.

Yes. Molten aluminum with water will 'create' hydrogen, which is highly flammable, causing explosions. In this instance, the sandstorm serves as a stirring agent that ensures that the burning aluminum powder will find the water particles created by the fog. While not all of it exploded, there would have been enough to blow quite a lot of stuff up.

To be continued on May 29th

Name : Neo Politan

Age : 15

Level : 15 (81%)

Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]

Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]

Title : The Gamer

HP : 10/10

AP : UNUSABLE

STR : 11

CON : 10

DEX : 18

INT : 21

WIS : 12

CHA : 16

Semblance : The Gamer

Status effects :

Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]

Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]

Fighting for your life [Your aura behaved in the only way that would let you survive, and will continue to do so until you overcome your trauma. You cannot use aura, but you can will any item you wield for it to reflect 100% of any attack that hits it]

Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]

Defenses :

AC : 25(29)

For : 18

Ref : 24

Will : 22